Housing

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The agenda for our March 28 Planning Committee is now online, including the staff report recommending approval of the 22-storey tower proposed for 1960 Scott Street. That's the location of the old Trailhead building, at the corner of McRae. You can view the agenda here along with the associated documents. Tuesday's meeting also includes approval for the large Westgate mall proposal, as well as re-zoning the Byron Linear Park to continue Farmer's Market operations.

My comments opposing the 1960 application are as pasted below. This is a slightly modified proposal from what we saw at the first open house months ago, and there is now a portion of the southeast corner scaled back to create greater separation from the homes on Clifton.

We have asked the developer to do one more open house before the vote. The open house will be held tomorrow, March 22, from 6-8 at the Churchill Seniors Centre. For more details on the open house, visit here.

This week, I attended two events launching research reports exploring the challenges faced by our vulnerable populations. On Tuesday night, I visited St. Matthias in Kitchissippi where a group of Carleton students partnered with the parish to explore the social needs gaps in the church’s catchment area (including much of our ward). Then, on Thursday, I attended a briefing held by the Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH) to explore the results of its recent street survey of Ottawa’s homeless.

Housing has been a major focus for City Council. In my participation at Planning Committee in recent weeks, I’ve been questioning staff about the removal of dollars for capital projects in the recently-passed budget. The shift was spurred by provincially-mandated operating cost increases related to inflation. For the next several years, after some one-time funding and front-end loading of federal/provincial money this year, we’ll be spending $4 million less per year on building affordable housing than we have been as part of our 10-year homelessness plan. It’s a step backwards, in my view.

In this vein, I was very keen to hear both ATEH and St. Matthias’ research findings.